Modern electronic devices such as computers, tablets, mobile phones, wearable devices, gaming consoles, televisions, and the like have become a common part of modern life. Many of these devices provide for various audio and video capabilities. However, processing digital audio and videos signals can be a resource intensive task as the video data can quickly become large. For example, in real-time video communications users often prefer higher resolutions and frame rates which can quickly tax computing resources (e.g., processors, network communication components, etc.). Moreover, packets transmitted over communication networks may be subject to various delays (e.g., processing delays, propagation delays, etc.) that can degrade the performance of the user's experience. These delays are known as jitter. The amount of variation in packet arrival is commonly measured in terms of packet delay variation (PDV) or inter-arrival time (IAT) variation. These delays can have a significant effect on the quality of real-time communications (e.g., using voice over internet protocol).
In an effort to mitigate this problem, various systems use a variety of techniques including the use of a jitter buffer to counter the negative impact of variation in packet delays (i.e., jitter). The jitter buffer queues packets which can then be released in a more even manner. Unfortunately, the use of a jitter buffer introduces an additional delay between the time a packet is received and the time that the packet is reproduced. The longer the delay, the more consistent the packets can be processed. For two-way communications, however, this additional delay can degrade the user's experience. As such, there is a tradeoff when selecting the size of the jitter buffer. In contrast, one way communications can generally tolerate a longer delay and may even benefit from more consistent packet processing. Additional techniques are needed to effectively handle jitter.
Overall, the examples herein of some prior or related systems and their associated limitations are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Upon reading the following, other limitations of existing or prior systems will become apparent to those of skill in the art.